Use the new ban treaty to promote nuclear abolition on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days!

August 6 (Hiroshima Day) and August 9 (Nagasaki Day) are global days of action for nuclear abolition. Abolition 2000 lists Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day actions and events on our calendar of events.

Below are some examples. Please contact [email protected] if you would like an event listed.

Use the new ban treaty to promote nuclear abolition

On July 7, 2017, the United Nations adopted a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons supported by 122 countries. The treaty will be open for signature on September 20 and will enter-into-force once 50 States ratify.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that ‘The treaty represents an important step and contribution towards the common aspiration of a world without nuclear weapons.’

In addition, on December 3, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted ground-breaking Resolution 71/71, supported by over 140 countries, supporting an international treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons that would include the nuclear-armed States, and affirming its decision to hold a High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament no later than 2018 to review progress.

1) Non-nuclear countries

In non-nuclear countries you can call on your government to sign the ban treaty, which will open for signature at the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, and to ratify the treaty before the UN High-Level Conference in 2018. The aim is to have 50 countries ratify the treaty by the time of UN High-Level conference so that it can enter-into-force by then.

2) Nuclear-armed and allied countries

In nuclear-armed and allied countries you can also call on your government to join the ban treaty, but they have already said that they will not join. So on August 6 and 9, you can call on them to commit to adopting other significant nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament measures at the 2018 UN High-Level Conference. This could include lowering the operational readiness to use nuclear weapons, adopting no-first-use policies, ending the modernisation of nuclear weapons, make cuts in nuclear stockpiles, ending the deployment of nuclear weapons in foreign countries (such as NATO nuclear sharing), and adopting a framework agreement to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world. (See UN High-Level Conference – Abolition 2000).

3) All countries

Whether you are in a nuclear-armed, allied or non-nuclear country, you can also call on your government to participate at the highest level (Prime Minister/President) in the 2018 UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament.